MOU: Red Peril
by H.R.C. Stanley
Summary: Earth-99 A young journalist is approached by a strange ring that deems her worthy of wielding it, granting her powers of fire to save the Earth from potential and predetermined threats. However, being a host to such a powerful yet mysterious weapon may come at a price... All characters are owned and created by Marvel Comics.
1. Chapter 1

**_MOU: Red Peril_**

A _Marvel_ fanfiction

By H.R.C. Stanley

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

**London, England, UK**

Deep in the twilight hours, a lone redhead sat quietly in a dimly lit bus stop, softly tapping her foot to the sound of trip hop music within her earphones. However, the serene evening was interrupted by an orb of a bright red light quickly approaching her.

"Identity: Abigail Beryl Burns. Emotion Dampeners engaged," the orb spoke in a deep monotone, almost artificial voice. "Calmness ensured, listen. The Earth is in great peril. It must be saved. Do you accept?"

"Uhh..." Abigail gasped and stammered. "I guess, but why me? I only write columns about ecography, neo-capitalism and authoritarianism."

"Which is why you've been chosen." the orb replied. "Your words and ideals are the spark that can light up the flames of hope and glory. A flame that would burn down confusion, prejudice and deception, and reveal the truth, liberty and justice. Is it too late?"

"I believe the Earth can be saved," Abigail answered with hesitance. "I believe in the propaganda of the deed. I believe we can be better and do better."

"Then you possess the necessary will..." the orb dimmed, revealing itself to be a small golden ring with four capsule-shaped jewels embedded upon it.

Abigail slowly raised her left hand and etched closer to observe the strange item. Suddenly, like a magnet, the ring flung and attached onto her finger and sent a surge of fiery heat through her veins. Her eyes began to glow intensely like tiny suns, and her auburn lit up and morphed into a blazing of dancing and roaring fire. Her chest rose forth as she was lifted off her feet, as if she were picked up by an invisible hand.

"You are the Red Peril," the ring announced to its new owner. "Save the Earth from its dark fate!"

* * *

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One**

* * *

_Stark Industries envision a bright new future for the human race: sprawling some of most populated cities around the globe with automated defence __capabilities in order to stand the odds against threats of invasion or even future extinction. __However, one of the rings of the Mandarin had found its host in Abigail Burns, a radical left-wing journalist. Her mission: Save the world from Stark..._

* * *

**Location: S.T.R.I.K.E. Headquarters, London, England, United Kingdom**

In the heart of the HQ, all seemed quiet, normal, routine. Several men and women in matching suits and uniforms sat firmly and quietly, observing full attention to their screens: agent status, map systems, emergency listings, etc. Watching over all of this was a middle-aged man with short slicked-back lightish-black hair and donned in a black polo-neck as well as navy blue leather jacket suit and formal trousers.

A bleep went off and a red dot appeared on the Earth map, catching the attention of a young woman, whose eyes lit up in reaction.

"Commander Lance," the woman spoke in an Australian accent, observing the on-screen map. "We've been detecting a strange source in the outskirts of the city."

The man's head quickly turned to face the person and marched forth to closely observe the screen.

"Can you trace it, Agnes?" the Commander asked in a stern English accent.

"We are at the moment, it seems to be heading off to the east at a speed of about 100 miles an hour."

"Can you estimate where it might be going?"

"According to the trajectory, presumably at the far end of Asia," the woman analysed as the map-screen unveiled a line going from England all the way across Europe and Asia until it ended at China. "Specifically the city of Troy."

"Troy?" Lance muttered, putting two and two together. "That's where Tony Stark is..."

He stared long and hard at the map showing the anomaly's trail and its projected path ahead. He

"Send some of our agents there ASAP," he ordered. "There might be potential trouble..."

"Who should we send exactly?"

"Agents 13 and Albion," Commander Lance chose after a brief momentary lapse of decision.

* * *

**Location: Troy Core Demonstration Unit, somewhere off the shore of China**

Under the bright noon sky, the crowd murmured to no end. In clear sight stood a freshly built and polished-looking building, gleaming a bright silver as it reflected the strong blinding light of the Eastern sun.

Two men in tight and smart uniform emerged from a limousine and walked side by side through the crowd.

"Take it from me, Marc," "Sleeping with a boss is never the best idea."

"Pepper isn't exactly a boss, Mr. Stark," "She's more of a client if anything. Besides, we don't sleep much anyway."

"Nice crowd anyway," Tony observed. "And international too."

"People are always hungry to see the next big thing," "Been a while since we've had a project of any kind, let alone something like this. Live feeds for the rest of the world as well. Big audience."

"Though she's someone I wasn't expecting..." Marc muttered, looking back and spotting a rather familiar face standing out and emerging from the crowd, a redhead woman in a leather jacket, purple T-shirt and blue jeans. "Excuse me, Mr. Stark, Possible P.R. problem." He stopped and turned to the approaching woman. "So this is news, eh? And I thought the MetaNational didn't have the budget to send anyone outside of London Zone Two. I hope you offset your carbon footprint, Abigail."

"The only footprint you should be worried about is the one I'll leave on your face," Abigail threatened. "So you better back off, Marc."

"Says the one attempting to stalk and harass," he roasted back.

Left stunned and dumbstruck by such a comeback remark, Abigail forced herself to restrain and resist the urge to flat out punch the man, breathing in slowly before exhaling a long huff. Frozen in place, she looked on as the two men continued walking away before she herself chose to step back into the crowd.

"Who's she exactly?" Tony asked.

"Abigail Burns, a.k.a. the 'Red Peril'," Marc airquoted. "She's a journalist from England."

"What kind of journalist exactly?"

"Rather not say to be honest, unless you want to get bogged down into typical simplified black and white politics again."

"Should I like her?"

"You could..." Marc paused. "...but even then, she'd still hate you anyway."

"Who doesn't these days?"

"You know, call me naive and all. But part of me was hoping that doing something that would actually help people would go smoothly. But then again, I admit to not being the most perfect or ideal role model."

In spite of such, Tony stepped onto the stage with Marc still close behind and he pressed on his earpiece.

"Arno," Tony called.

"Yes, Mr Stark," a deeper yet muffled male voice replied.

"Any spikes of energy or security alerts?"

"Hmm, one last pass on the scans..." the elder voice of Arno paused for a moment. "Not getting anything yet so far," Arno addressed after letting out a big sigh, both of relief and boredom. "And to think many people in the world believe that visionaries like you and I are the real supervillains here, the stage is yours."

Tony Stark firmly placed his slightly sweated hands upon the platform with various mics set in place. Staring out at the vast crowd of at least a few thousand people, he shook a bit, despite knowing well he should used to this by now. For a few seconds of awkward and uneasy silence, Tony took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Hi everyone, I'm Tony Stark, in case you don't recognise the face," the man announced himself with a slight chuckle before quickly dropping the short grin. "And I'm here to talk about the future and how we're going to ensure we have one. We need a better way to live, and a better place to live."

Looking on, Abigail pulled a mild scowl and squeezed her fists tight until her nails left deep marks in her palms, still sceptical of what the celebrity claimed.

"Typical hypocrite," she scoffed, staring intensely and letting out a heavy huff as she leaned back and crossed her arms. "You deserved to be-"

However, before she could finish her remark, a massive blast of fire erupted from the clean building behind Tony and Marc, forcing them back. In an instant reaction, the crowd of people let out shrieks and fled the scene, covering themselves from falling debris. However, Abigail remained in her place, squatting down and shutting her eyes tight. Coughing off some smoke and rubbing dust off her eyelids, she noticed her ring glowing a familiar orange-red.

"Ring, did you just...?" Abigail asked her ring, stammering and dumbstruck.

"I did nothing..." the ring's dark voice spoke back. "For I remain quiescent. Conversely, another ring of Mandarin has been activated..."

The massive form of a closed human-like fist composed of rusted iron rails and rods emerged from the rubble, rising up to at least 50 feet high and counting. Upon its "thumb" was a gigantic ring that glowed a bright sickly green.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Marc managed to say in between breaths.

"What bright side?" Tony asked.

"Well..." the assistant paused for a brief moment before swallowing. "At least the declaration of war has just gone viral."

Tony Stark quietly turned to stare at him with a flat frown and narrowed eyes.

* * *

_To be continued..._


End file.
